Spieth’s Soda Deal Not Entirely Sweet

A day after the news broke that Jordan Spieth had supplanted Tiger Woods as golf’s top earner – Spieth made $53 million on and off the course in 2015, according to Golf Digest estimates – one of America’s best-known brands announced a monster endorsement deal with the reigning Masters and U.S. Open champion.

Coca-Cola signed Spieth to a multiyear agreement to become a brand ambassador for Coke and Dasani water, the company announced Wednesday. Dollars were not disclosed, but Spieth’s agent, Jay Danzi, told ESPN.com that the deal will be one of the biggest the company has ever made with an athlete.

Spieth joins LeBron James, Jennifer Aniston and Taylor Swift in the company’s stable of endorsers, which is pretty heady company for the 22-year-old Texan with the Midas touch.

One can’t exactly fault Spieth for entering an arrangement that likely will help pay the college tuitions of his eventual descendants for generations to come. But if there’s one quibble, it’s that golf’s Mr. Wholesome will now be shilling a soda New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady recently labeled “poison for kids.”